Blaze
by Surreysmum
Summary: A little vignette of Aragorn and Legolas on a hunting trip many years after the War is over. A picture of a passing moment in a deep and lasting friendship.


_Blaze: a vignette from the Years After_

The fire crackled merrily as Aragorn tossed on a new log, then laid himself back upon his cloak, his head cradled upon his arms.

"It is a clear night," remarked Legolas, from where he was stretched out on the other side of the fire. "If you look sideways, you can almost see the Lady Elbereth herself spinning her stars through that vast, dark sea where she keeps them all afloat."

Aragorn smiled, and pointed to a cluster of stars that approximated the shape of a woman. "There she is, there." He sketched a gesture of reverance towards the sky. "I thank you for this fine night, gracious Lady."

Legolas smiled in return; he knew when he was being teased. "Clearly it is a long, long time since your tutor taught you the stars, Elessar - or else you are merely pretending you have forgotten the constellation of Vaire the weaver! Elbereth would not be pleased with you for mixing her up with such a minor Vala!"

Aragorn - he who had been King Elessar for lo these many years now - turned on his side and thoughtfully played a small twig through the flames, lighting it and blowing it out as he spoke. "It is indeed a very long while since I sat at the feet of an Elven tutor, my friend. Sometimes the swift passage of time, in these happy days, catches me by surprise. Tonight, for instance - do you know the significance of tonight?"

Legolas bethought himself, but it was not a begetting day for any of his friends, or a high holiday for any of the races he knew, and the winter Solstice would not arrive for several nights to come. "Tell me," he said.

"Think, _mellon-nín._ What were we doing this night, exactly fifty years since?"

"Ah," replied the Elf. "Yes, it was the night that we set out for Mordor from Rivendell; the true beginning of that fated Fellowship, and the first steps on that tortuous journey."

"How dark that night seems to me in memory. Our Quest seemed so desperate; I did not know whether any of us could survive it, or indeed, if we failed, whether Middle Earth itself would survive."

"It was dark in very fact, for the lights in the sky were dimmed by the Evil in those days," Legolas mused. "As for me, I did not wish to survive if we failed, and, being Elvish, I very much feared that I would live too long. Most of all, I did not wish to survive you - I had already come to that conclusion, even after so few months of acquaintance."

Aragorn swallowed hard at such frankness, for though they had known each other long, it was not often that the Elf spoke of his deepest feelings. "I did not realize then that your thoughts were so full of despair, my friend," he said. "You seemed, of all of us, the fairest in aspect and most full of hope; our guiding light, in fact."

Legolas' smile across the fire was full of affection. "And how else should I strive to be, in the company of such nobility?" he asked. But he read in Aragorn's face that his words about survival had brought to the King's mind the even deeper, darker pain that they faced together, though they rarely spoke of it, for they were both fully aware that Legolas had not been granted the gift of choice, and must somehow survive the centuries after Aragorn's passing, let it happen soon or late. "Come, let us not sadden ourselves with memories of darkness past, or dread of darkness future, but instead find solace in the light we are given tonight," said Legolas determinedly. "If you will sit at my feet, my forgetful mortal, I will tutor you once more in the names of the stars."

Aragorn chuckled in delight at the suggestion, and shifted himself over to Legolas' side of the fire. They moved a little away from the flames to see the sky better, and surely it was for that reason - the loss of the fire's heat on that wintry night - that Aragorn eventually found himself not at the Elf's feet but wrapped within Legolas' cloak, and held close by Legolas' arm around his back, their heads close together as they sat propped against a naked tree.

For nigh on an hour, Legolas named the stars to Aragorn, and Aragorn named others back to him; it was fine sport, for both had keen minds and excellent memories. Eventually, though, Aragorn glanced over to their fire and said, sighing, "I shall have to seek more wood. What a pity that fires do not blaze forever of their own accord."

"Some do," replied Legolas quietly, and Aragorn turned to look at the Elf's moonlit face. "Those up there," Legolas told him. He touched his breast. "And this one here."

_finis_


End file.
